INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Christian Pulisic returned to the field for the United States on Thursday night just in time to warm up for the World Cup games that really matter starting next week.

Pulisic entered the Americans’ 3-2 loss to Turkey as a substitute early in the second half to the soundtrack of an enormous roar from the sellout crowd at SoFi Stadium.

He immediately looked comfortable in his first game action in 13 days, contributing to several strong attacks and coming awfully close to scoring a goal shortly after his entrance. Pulisic also had a lowlight when rising star Arda Güler nutmegged him — flicked the ball between his legs — to begin the sequence that ended with Kaan Ayhan’s winning goal on the final kick of the match.

The loss didn’t matter to the Americans, but the chance to prepare for next week was the important part. The U.S. faces Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32 on Wednesday.

“His goal was to get some minutes to be ready” for next week, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “I’m happy because I think he made a good impact when he was on the pitch.”

Pulisic played dynamically in the first half of the Americans’ tournament-opening, 4-1 victory over Paraguay nearly two weeks ago, creating one goal and assisting on another — but he came off at halftime due to a calf injury he had picked up in training.

The AC Milan midfielder missed the Americans’ next match against Australia, and he sat out the first half against Turkey before coming on as a substitute in the 58th minute to that massive cheer from the raucous Los Angeles-area crowd.

Pulisic didn’t stop to speak to reporters in the mixed zone after the loss, but he thinks he’ll be ready when the U.S. attempts to win a knockout-round World Cup match for only the second time.

“I felt good, so it was really nice to be back with the team and get some minutes,” Pulisic told Fox. “I felt good with the ball. It was a tough way to end for us, for sure. But at the end of the day, we win the group, and we just have to look forward to next week.”

Pulisic said this week that he was ready to play again, and he created a scoring opportunity only a couple of minutes after he entered the 2-2 game with a dynamic run down the left side.

Pulisic nearly scored in the 63rd minute, but his quick shot in traffic was deflected off the goalpost by Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.

“You saw his quality, and you saw when he came in the impact he had,” Sebastian Berhalter said. “He’s our guy. he’s a leader in his own right.”

Late goal for Turkey

Pulisic had another excellent pass to Ricardo Pepi in injury time, but his teammate couldn’t get off a shot. The U.S. appeared to be headed to a draw — until Turkey pulled out an extraordinary late goal that began with a bit of magic from Güler, the 21-year-old Real Madrid star.

Boxed into the corner by two Americans, Güler flicked the ball perfectly between Pulisic’s legs and ran around him, creating the space necessary to start the final sequence. Salih Ozcan kicked a long cross to Can Uzun got the ball in space on the back post slipped it under sprawling goalkeeper Matt Turner to Ayhan.

That sequence aside, Pulisic’s presence energized the American attack and portended well for its next match, according to his teammates.

“(Pulisic) is a special player,” U.S. captain Weston McKennie told Fox. “There’s no doubt that he adds something to the group. He adds his 1-on-1 qualities. Whenever the game might look dry or the game isn’t creative or something, he can come in and be that player to create something out of thin air. It was good to see him back on the pitch. Hopefully we’ll see him again in San Francisco.”

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The field for the elimination phase of the World Cup is beginning to take shape, with co-hosts the United States and Canada finding out their opponents in the next round.

The U.S. will face Bosnia-Herzegovina on July 1 in Santa Clara, California, getting to stay on the West Coast after competing in the Los Angeles area and Seattle during the group stage. The Americans had already clinched a spot in the knockout round before a 3-2 loss to Turkey on Thursday night in front of a raucous, celebrity-studded Southern California crowd at SoFi Stadium.

Canada will head to Los Angeles to face South Africa.

Other marquee matchups are set, including Morocco vs. the Netherlands and Japan vs. Brazil.

Several teams, including Argentina, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland and Ivory Coast, have advanced to the knockout round but still waiting to find out their opponents.

The round of 32 will be set on Saturday once the group-stage matches are done and the final standings of the 12 groups are known. The top two teams from each group, along with the eight best third-place finishers, advance to the win-or-go home round.

Here’s how it’s looking so far:

US vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina, July 1

The Americans had their powerful momentum from two consecutive victories stalled in the loss to Turkey. But in the knockout round, they’ll face a Bosnia-Herzegovina team that is 62nd in the FIFA rankings — the lowest-ranked World Cup qualifier from Europe. Bosnia finished third in Group B with four points. U.S. star Christian Pulisic entered as a substitute in the second half against Turkey. He had not played since leaving an opening win over Paraguay at halftime with a calf injury. “We play every game like a knockout game,” said U.S. midfielder Sebastian Berhalter, who scored against Turkey. “You saw that in our intensity and the way we worked. For us, it’s keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

South Africa vs. Canada, June 28

These nations have already made history. It’ll be the first time both are in the knockout stage of the World Cup. Co-host Canada advanced as runner-up in Group B with four points — one win, one draw and one loss. South Africa was runner-up in Group A, also with four points, including a surprising win over South Korea.

Brazil vs. Japan, June 29

Japan advanced as Group F runner-up with a hard fought 1-1 draw against Sweden and the Samurai Blue’s reward is a knockout match against five-time World Cup champion Brazil. It’ll be a full-circle moment for Japan, which welcomed Brazilian soccer legend Zico in 1991. He was brought in to professionalize the country’s new domestic league and support Japan’s successful bid to host the World Cup in 2002. Now, the Japanese have a chance to show how far they’ve come against a country that has set the standard.

Netherlands vs. Morocco, June 29

The Netherlands won Group F after playing to a draw with Japan and outscoring Sweden and Tunisia by a combined 8-2. Morocco went unbeaten to finish second in Group C in pursuit of becoming the first African winner of the World Cup. Morocco reached the semifinals four years ago in Qatar.

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LONDON (AP) — NATO’s deputy commander told The Associated Press that he wants a summit in Turkey to spur member countries to spend more on defense, reaffirm support for Ukraine and underline the unity of the alliance.

Air Chief Marshal Sir John Stringer, NATO’s deputy supreme allied commander in Europe, spoke to AP in London less than two weeks before the crucial Ankara summit on July 7-8 tests the cohesion of the 77-year-old alliance.

U.S. President Donald Trump has sent conflicting signals over America’s force posture in Europe, at times threatening to leave and at other times unnerving European leaders with his push to annex Greenland or his flattery of NATO adversary Russian President Vladimir Putin. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lambasted NATO allies last week for not allowing use of their bases to attack Iran, as he announced a surprise six-month review of American forces in Europe.

Meanwhile, government ministers in the U.K. have quit over what they say are military spending plans that fail to keep Britain safe.

Summits are “highly political events and they are a demonstration of any organization’s unity,” said Stringer, a senior British air force officer. It would be strange if over decades of NATO expanding there weren’t moments of turbulence, he said.

“Are we in one of those moments at the moment? Yes, we are,” Stringer said in an interview at a military conference in London where AP also interviewed other senior European military officials about their hopes — and fears — for the summit.

NATO’s European members step up on defense

Trump has long urged European allies to take more responsibility for their own defense, and with the notable exception of Spain they have largely heeded with an unprecedented effort to spend more on their armed forces.

Russia is increasingly threatening Europe, so allies should boost their own militaries while also helping Ukraine degrade Russia’s fighting power, said Maj. Gen. Indrek Sirel, a commander in Estonia’s armed forces.

“Europe as a whole has a lot to do in order to be credible against Russia,” said Brig. Gen. Jyri Raitasalo of Finland, which shares NATO’s longest border with Russia.

Stringer said European nations are investing to generate a “really credible force,” citing as an example how some countries are quadrupling production of 155 mm artillery shells. The summit will discuss ramping up production in ways the alliance has not had to do in decades, Stringer said.

European military chiefs wait for clarity on US plans

The outcome of Hegseth’s six-month review of forces will determine how fast Europeans must take responsibility for their own security. The U.S. military in Europe had said earlier in the month that Washington would be withdrawing some capabilities from Europe and expecting other allies to fill the gaps.

The Trump administration says that troop reductions in Europe have long been planned and coordinated with allies, but Sirel said it’s still not clear how U.S. forces will be positioned in the Baltic states. That includes some U.S.-led deterrence of Russia on NATO’s eastern flank.

Sirel said he was “confident” he could rely on a U.S. presence, while also saying the Estonian military is finding ways to react to sudden changes.

Stringer said it would be difficult to replace U.S. long-range strike and surveillance capabilities, but that he was “confident” allies could bridge the gap — not always with the same equipment but by mixing a “cocktail” of capabilities.

Only the U.S. operates B1 and B52 bomber aircraft, but in theory, a loss of their capabilities might be offset by firing missiles from a variety of other systems including from the ground, sea and smaller aircraft, he said.

Changing plans suddenly is not good for defense

NATO allies were bewildered in May when Trump said he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number pulled from Europe.

Such sudden changes are challenging because military planning requires long-term strategy, said Raitasalo, the Finnish military’s logistics chief. “If you change your mind, or change your plan, every week or every month or even every year, you will not get very good results,” he said.

Raitasalo said the allies need to make clear pledges of capabilities, rather than just promise spending.

Sweden’s army chief, Maj. Gen. Jonny Lindfors, said a good outcome from the summit would be “a common picture of how to realign when it comes to deterrence and defense.”

Lindfors said he would like at least an outline — if not a “clear vision” — on how defense burdens should shift so that he knows what “NATO 3.0 is starting to look like.”

Britain needs to commit to defense

British Defense Secretary John Healey resigned earlier this month, along with another minister, saying the government was unable and unwilling to commit the resources Britain needs to “defend the country at this time of rising threats.”

At last year’s NATO summit, members agreed to spend 3.5% of their gross domestic product on core defense. The U.K. committed to meeting that target by 2035. However Healey said the proposed defense investment plan would see spending rise to just 2.68% of GDP in 2030.

The new defense secretary, Dan Jarvis, has said Britain will keep its commitments, and the British government has committed to publishing the spending plan.

By the summit, NATO expects nations to have a “credible path” to 3.5%, and the U.K. is “as beholden to that as anybody else,” Stringer said.

He said the U.K. cannot presume that “thought leadership” in NATO is enough, and that it must match its “forces and resources” while committing to defense.

NATO’s credibility is at stake

At last year’s summit, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte kept Trump on board by telling him he would achieve “BIG” success at getting allies to spend more on defense.

Stringer said that at this year’s summit it’s important to display “cohesion and unity” among the alliance’s 32 members but also to have “honest” conversations and deliver “credible” plans.

Raitasalo of Finland said the meeting must go beyond traditional “communiques, roadmaps and action plans” and demonstrate deterrence through deeds. He said if NATO members don’t step up and translate promises into action, the “credibility” of the alliance is at stake.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The United States kept Christian Pulisic on the bench and sent out nine new starters for its final World Cup group match against Turkey on Thursday night with its knockout-round place already secured.

The American team has already won its group and clinched a matchup with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32 next week, so coach Mauricio Pochettino used this meaningless final match to give playing time to the second string on his 26-man squad.

The Americans kept Pulisic on the bench to begin the match along with the four key U.S. players who have already picked up yellow cards: striker Folarin Balogun, Tyler Adams and top defenders Antonee Robinson and Chris Richards.

Pulisic said this week that he is ready to play again after coming out at halftime with a calf injury in the Americans’ 4-1 victory over Paraguay to open their home World Cup nearly two weeks ago. Pochettino said Wednesday he hadn’t decided how to use Pulisic against Turkey, but suggested he might play part of the game.

Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi were the only starters in the lineup against Turkey who also started the Americans’ 2-0 victory over Australia in Seattle last week. McKennie, the U.S. captain against Turkey, was the only player to start all three group matches, while Pepi remained in the lineup after replacing Pulisic against the Socceroos.

Pochettino also swapped out starting goalkeeper Matt Freese for Matt Turner, who was the Americans’ starter for all four matches at the Qatar World Cup four years ago.

The new starters were Turner, Auston Trusty, Gio Reyna, Brenden Aaronson, Miles Robinson, Sebastian Berhalter, Tim Weah, Mark McKenzie and Joe Scally.

Turner, Aaronson, McKenzie and Miles Robinson all got their first playing time at this World Cup.

The U.S. faces Bosnia on Wednesday, July 1, in Santa Clara, California.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/FIFA-World-Cup

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Several independent Turkish media outlets were denied accreditation to cover an upcoming NATO summit in Ankara, journalism groups said Thursday, calling the decision an affront to media freedoms.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to join other leaders from the 32-member alliance for the July 7-8 summit in the Turkish capital, during which allies will, among other issues, debate defense spending and attempt to project unity.

Turkish journalists from news organizations viewed as opposition‑leaning or independent — including Halk TV, Sozcu TV, Cumhuriyet newspaper, T24 news website and ANKA news agency — have been excluded from covering the summit, the Turkish Journalists’ Association and other media solidarity groups said.

The journalists were neither given a reason for the rejection nor offered the opportunity to appeal the decision, the association said.

“Preventing certain media outlets from covering events of public importance undermines freedom of information and reporting,” the association said. “International organizations must act in line with the democratic values they claim to uphold.”

NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart said in a statement posted on X that for summits held outside of its Brussels headquarters, the trans-Atlantic alliance relies on the host country to assess and approve journalists from that country.

“We are in contact with Turkish authorities on accreditation for the NATO Summit in Ankara. It is very important for NATO that media can attend major events in person,” she said.

Turkish officials haven’t commented on the accreditation issue.

Turkey is implementing wide‑ranging precautions in the lead‑up to the summit. Earlier this week, security forces detained more than 200 people suspected of links to extremist groups, the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office said.

But opposition parties and media reports said that a politician, an academic, a journalist and prominent LGBTQ activist, and lawyers were among those detained, calling for their release.

In a statement on Thursday, Human Rights Watch also criticized the detentions and urged NATO to ensure that basic democratic rights are respected during the summit.

“The misuse of terrorism laws to conduct mass arrests and silence people in the run-up to a NATO summit flies in the face of the founding values of the alliance,” said Benjamin Ward, the group’s deputy director for Europe and Central Asia. “The authorities should immediately release those detained, and NATO should insist that peaceful expression and assembly must be permitted around the summit.”

The Turkish government’s Communications Directorate insisted on Thursday that those who were detained “were assessed to have been involved in activities connected to various terrorist organizations.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, pressing the case for a military alliance that the volatile U.S. leader has sharply criticized as the Pentagon reviews the size of the U.S. military footprint in Europe.

Trump has slammed NATO, arguing the U.S. carries more than its fair share of military spending. But his grievances have been louder since the Iran war as he fumed over the fact that some member countries ignored his call to help him restart oil trade through the shuttered Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has renewed his threats to leave the 77-year-old alliance, raising the stakes before the NATO leaders’ summit in Turkey next month. But Rutte, who has become known as a Trump whisperer for his ability to charm the president, was looking to appease him Wednesday.

Meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, Rutte pushed back gently, saying, “I know there have been isolated cases about which you are really disappointed, but generally speaking, your European allies have been there with you.”

Rutte also noted that 4,000 to 5,000 U.S. planes took off from bases in Europe before Iran and the U.S. agreed to a ceasefire.

That followed Trump’s comment, while introducing Rutte, that “they weren’t too nice to us in our recent little military skirmish.”

Defense Department conducting a review of American forces in Europe

The visit, Rutte’s fifth since Trump returned to power last year, comes after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week lashed out at allies during a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels. His department is in the midst of a six-month review of U.S. forces in Europe.

Hegseth echoed some of Trump’s critiques, faulting European allies for not letting the U.S. use bases in Europe to attack Iran. NATO allies were not consulted about the war before the U.S. launched it with Israel on Feb. 28, and some have been openly critical of Trump’s strategy.

Trump argues that NATO allies were not there for the U.S. and suggested leaving the alliance, which was founded in 1949 to counter the Cold War threat posed to European security by the Soviet Union. At the heart of their treaty is a mutual defense agreement in which an attack on one is considered an attack on all. The only time it has been invoked was in 2001, to support the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The Pentagon’s warning that it will reduce its military presence in Europe to focus on threats elsewhere was the latest upheaval for the 32-member alliance since Trump returned to office.

The Republican leader stunned European allies last year when he threatened to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous island that is part of ally Denmark.

Earlier Wednesday, the leaders of five big European NATO allies — Germany, France, the U.K., Italy and Poland – met in Berlin to prepare for next month’s summit in Ankara, and Rutte joined them remotely.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in remarks to reporters that the Ankara summit also should send the message that “we will do our part when the conditions are in place” to support an Iran peace deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron said “we are in a moment of reconvergence between the Europeans and the Americans” and indicated that he hopes that will continue at the summit.

Flattering Trump is a key objective

A chief part of Rutte’s mission these days is keeping the U.S. in NATO, and he’s proven himself deft in the past at subduing Trump’s frustrations.

Rutte frequently flatters the president, crediting him with getting NATO members to increase their defense spending. Trump last year pressured leaders to agree to invest 5% of their GDP annually on defense by 2035.

On Tuesday evening, Rutte appeared for an interview on Fox News Channel, of which Trump is known to be a dedicated viewer.

Rutte repeatedly praised Trump, emphasizing he is the leader of the NATO alliance and said of his efforts in Iran: “I’m completely behind him on this.”

He said Trump’s frustrations over the use of bases in Europe involved a few “isolated cases.”

The lengths to which Rutte is willing to praise Trump have at times raised eyebrows, such as when he referred to the president as “daddy” during the alliance’s summit last year.

He then sent him a fawning text message that employed one of Trump’s favorite flourishes, capitalizing random words. “Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,” Rutte said.

Trump shared the private message on social media for the world to see.

He did it again in January, blasting out another Rutte message that closed with: “Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.”

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Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.